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Shin was relieved for a moment as Kealey pointed out the fact that she had everything. It was true, she had everything she needed, and Shin had showed her how to use it all. They were set. Not quite though, their eyes met, and Kealey could almost feel the gears in Shin’s head shift. Over the next few moments he grew progressively more nervous, more worried. As a result, Kealey got more nervous and worried. Maybe she was taking things too lightly….maybe the stalker was just biding their time for the right moment. Maybe all of that was the point…

Shin took a audible deep breath, and the nerves slowly skidded to a halt. Kealey mirrored the deep breath and fists she hadn’t realized she was clenching loosened. She didn’t need to say thank you…he’d known. "It's alright..." she said, taking another deep breath and releasing it, "I'm actually glad you care enough to worry...it's nice not being alone."

Shin switched topics as fast as he’d pulled himself from the nerves a moment before and now he was talking about making little plush figures because her bed looked lonely. Kealey turned her head and looked at the bed. Right now it didn’t look lonely at all…it looked like a library and self-defense catalogue warehouse all bundled into one. The thought was funny and she grinned a bit.

Shin still wanted her help with costume designing, and he thought they should make her a little army of stuffed animals. He suggested a porygon doll, and a him doll, and…at the image of the Sam doll with his roving eye, Kealey burst into giggles.

”I don’t know about that one Shin…I think I might feel like it always had its eye on me…” The joke was bad, and probably wrong…but it was so funny that Kealey couldn’t help herself.

”I think the dolls are a good idea, though…” she said, rising from her perch on the bed to move to her closet and returning with a large canvas bag, ”I’ve even got a bag full of scraps and samples right here.”

One thing though, they were inside. Kealey pulled the hat and sunglasses off, letting her hair fall free again and tossed them on the bed with the rest of the stuff. ”Where do we start?”

They finished the packing and soon were on their way out of the apartment and back to the bus stop.

The bags were heavy and getting everything back to the Mansion was a bit of a trial to say the least. Kealey frowned just a bit as she lugged the bags. Why had she thought it was a good idea to bring so many clothes? Regular people didn’t really need that many clothes for the summer. Poor Shin, lugging a bag at least as big as hers. And since when had the Mansion been this far away?

At any rate, it was better to think about heavy bags and log treks home than the envelope that was currently poking Kealey through her purse. Those pictures, the fires, someone watching…Kealey sighed and went back to thinking about the bags.

They did manage to get back to the Mansion though, and as Kealey set her bag gratefully on the floor of her room, she turned to find Shin leaning against the doorframe. He was worried, if only a little, and he asked if she was okay. Kealey shrugged.

”I don’t know how else to be…” she said. ”I don’t know who would do something like this…or why these things keep happening to me, or if this is something I should really be worried about. So…I have to be okay, or I’ll be really not okay.” she hoped it made since to Shin, because honestly, it didn’t make any sense to her.

"Thanks again...for all the help." she said, and that did make sense.

Shin’s concentration naturally spilled over and Kealey watched him intently as he tried to work through whatever thoughts were rolling through his mind. What was he thinking? Had he figured something out that she’d missed?

Suddenly he stopped thinking about it and suggested that they get back to the mansion. They needed to finish packing up first, though. Suddenly, the job didn’t seem as fun as it had a few minutes before. Kealey tried to push thoughts of stalkers and fires to the back of her mind, but failed a little. She had a feeling that was going to be the story of the day until they could figure out what was going on.

”Yeah…just let me grab a few pairs of sandals..” she said, pushing up from the bed and heading for the closet.

The packing process was far more streamlined this time, and Kealey only picked the bare essentials of both her shoes and her accessories. That didn’t mean she ended up leaving the apartment lacking, both duffel bags had been put to excellent use and she realized that it really was an excellent thing that Shin had agree to come along and help. Grabbing the first bag she came across, Kealey hefted it to her shoulder.

”Ready?”

Kealey had to laugh a little bit at Calley’s reaction to her powers, ”Don’t apologize…it does suck. I don’t want to know all those things. I really don’t. I hate knowing things about people, things they may not even know about themselves. It’s not right.”

He said she was strong and the laugher faded, Kealey shook her head, ”I’m not strong. Not at all. I’m an absolute mess half the time, and the other half I’m getting myself into situations I can’t get out of on my own.”

Why was she telling all these things to a person who was not only an almost complete stranger, but a killer to boot? Because he probably wouldn’t argue with her. Shin always argued, as did most of the other people she came across and voiced her self-disapproval to. Maybe he’d just nod his head, it would almost be a relief…to know she wasn’t the only one who felt that way about herself. Besides, nothing Calley could learn about her would be as bad as what she already knew about him.

”And don’t you worry about the skirts…each team member is having a heavy hand in their own costume. I know all about Sam and his roving eye.”

Suddenly, Calley was disgusted with himself, and Kealey wrinkled her nose in shared distaste. ”What’s wrong?” she said, swallowing hard and shaking her head a little to clear it.

He was a student, for the most part, but as Calley’s silence stretched after the answer his emotions veered more and more towards that self-loathing slight panic from the first night they’d met. That was bad, he suggested they go somewhere else with the conversation. Kealey nodded enthusiastically.

He was so doubtful, but at the same time, so confused and vulnerable. What had happened that night? A part of Kealey didn’t want to know at all…but another part wanted to know everything that had contributed to the powerful emotions that had torn her up so badly.

”What about your power? What do you do?” she asked, trying to keep away from emotions or that night.

He wasn’t going to lie to his teachers in order to save his grades. Again, Kealey felt like she was stuck in some sort of paradox. She knew what he’d done, what he was capable of, yet here he was acting for all intents and purposes like a good kid. In spite of her instincts, Kealey’s heart went out to the younger man, Calley.

She asked what she could do, and he responded. He wanted to talk…not about what had happened. Kealey was relieved by that, she didn’t know if she could handle it still.

”Sure” she said, backing into her room and moving towards the desk to sit down. ”I’d appreciate it if you’d leave the door open though.”

Just because she’d decided he wasn’t a psychopathic serial killer didn’t mean Kealey wasn’t going to cover all the bases she could.

”What did you want to talk about?”

Kealey nodded her head when Juka pointed out that in the end people probably appreciated her efforts to help them . ”I think they do…though I’m sure it only encourages me to further bad habits.” she commented, a slightly sheepish grin spreading across her features.

The man giggled and Kealey found the little laugh contagious. Juka, she decided, was one of those infallible likable people. People probably judged him a little harshly because of his appearance because it was so very flamboyant, but it was also fabulous and the more Kealey talked to him she realized it was very….him.

Her head tilted to the side as Juka explained how it was that he didn’t have to sleep. It was an absolutely fascinating side effect of his power. ”Well, it sounds like you’re very well adjusted to the fact. That’s a great deal of time to yourself, though. I can see why you’d be interested in learning something like chess. I don’t know what I’d do with all that extra time.”

He’d mentioned “his bubble” several times and Kealey wondered if it was considered rude to ask about such things. There was only one way to find out, ”You mentioned…your bubble? What exactly did you mean by that?”